ODELAM: Rapid Sequence-independent Detection of Drug Resistance in Isolates.

Antimicrobial-resistant (Mtb) causes over 200,000 deaths globally each year. Current assays of antimicrobial resistance require knowledge of the mutations that confer drug resistance or long periods of culture time to test growth under drug pressure. We present ODELAM (One-cell Doubling Evaluation of Living Arrays of Mycobacterium), a time-lapse microscopy-based method that observes individual cells growing into microcolonies.

ODELAM, rapid sequence-independent detection of drug resistance in isolates of .

Antimicrobial-resistant (Mtb) causes over 200,000 deaths each year. Current assays of antimicrobial resistance need knowledge of mutations that confer drug resistance, or long periods of culture time to test growth under drug pressure. We present ODELAM (One-cell Doubling Evaluation of Living Arrays of Mycobacterium), a time-lapse microscopy-based method that observes individual cells growing into microcolonies.

origin of chromosomal replication with two putative unwinding elements.

DNA replication is controlled mostly at the initiation step. In bacteria, replication of the chromosome starts at a single origin of replication called . The initiator protein, DnaA, binds to specific sequences (DnaA boxes) within and assembles into a filament that promotes DNA double helix opening within the DNA unwinding element (DUE).

ParA and ParB coordinate chromosome segregation with cell elongation and division during Streptomyces sporulation.

In unicellular bacteria, the ParA and ParB proteins segregate chromosomes and coordinate this process with cell division and chromosome replication. During sporulation of mycelial Streptomyces, ParA and ParB uniformly distribute multiple chromosomes along the filamentous sporogenic hyphal compartment, which then differentiates into a chain of unigenomic spores. However, chromosome segregation must be coordinated with cell elongation and multiple divisions.

Dynamic interplay of ParA with the polarity protein, Scy, coordinates the growth with chromosome segregation in Streptomyces coelicolor.

Prior to bacterial cell division, the ATP-dependent polymerization of the cytoskeletal protein, ParA, positions the newly replicated origin-proximal region of the chromosome by interacting with ParB complexes assembled on parS sites located close to the origin. During the formation of unigenomic spores from multi-genomic aerial hyphae compartments of Streptomyces coelicolor, ParA is developmentally triggered to form filaments along the hyphae; this promotes the accurate and synchronized segregation of tens of chromosomes into prespore compartments. Here, we show that in addition to being a segregation protein, ParA also interacts with the polarity protein, Scy, which is a component of the tip-organizing centre that controls tip growth.

[Solving the mysteries of the bacterial cell - application of novel techniques in fluorescence microscopy].

We have reviewed how the development of fluorescent markers, triggered by the discovery of green fluorescence protein and its other color variants leading to the establishment of methods for studies of protein interactions with application of fluorescent proteins, affected the view of bacterial cell organization. Application of the new microscopic methods allowed localization of proteins and chromosomal regions, and observation of their migration in real time. These studies revealed the spatial organization of bacterial cells which includes specific subcellular localization of proteins, the presence of dynamic cytoskeletal structures, orchestrated and active segregation of chromosomes, and spatiotemporal gene regulation.

The actinobacterial signature protein ParJ (SCO1662) regulates ParA polymerization and affects chromosome segregation and cell division during Streptomyces sporulation.

Bacterial chromosome segregation usually involves cytoskeletal ParA proteins, ATPases which can form dynamic filaments. In aerial hyphae of the mycelial bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor, ParA filaments extend over tens of microns and are responsible for segregation of dozens of chromosomes. We have identified a novel interaction partner of S.